Cycling

Jens Voigt crosses the finish line in Beaver Creek to win Stage 4 of the USA Pro Challenge on Thursday. (Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post)

BEAVER CREEK — It was all Jens Voigt on Thursday in Stage 4 of the USA Pro Challenge.

The German rider for Team Radioshack took the lead early on the climb up Independence Pass and then stayed well ahead of the field as he won the 97-mile stage in 3 hours, 54 minutes.

"It started this morning at our team meeting," Voigt said. "They said, 'You do this, you do this, you do this.' And then they said, 'Jens, you do whatever you do.'"

BMC Racing's Tejay van Garderen, 24, reclaimed the yellow jersey, finishing in third, just ahead of Christian Vande Velde of Team Garmin-Sharp in the peloton. Second place in the stage went to Andreas Kloden of RadioShack.

"As far as the yellow jersey goes, I was hoping there would be some time gaps and that maybe I could steal a couple of seconds," van Garderen said. "We were trying to control Garmin in the start because we knew they were not going to want to defend the yellow jersey because they have so many guys close (in the general classification)."

He and Vande Velde had the same finish time in Stage 4, but since van Garderen, who lives in Boulder, crossed the line ahead of Vande Velde, the BMC rider took back the overall lead. Garmin-Sharp's Tom Danielson remains atop of the King of the Mountain points.

When Voigt crossed the finish line, the peloton was 3 minutes behind him. The 40-year-old rider attacked early as the riders left Aspen and never was threatened.

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"Every day here the race starts fast," Voigt said. "I saw 10, 12, 15 (riders) out there (on Independence Pass). I jumped to be in a group so our team would be represented. And I quickly realized, 'Hey, I'm on top of it. I could actually go a little faster if I needed to.' And I looked at the group and said, 'Well, I don't really want to bring them all with me to the finish.' And at 5 miles, it was almost like somebody talking to me saying, 'Jens, go now. Go now. Go now!'"

Photos: Cycling

From there, though Voigt's lead over the peloton shrunk and expanded, he held on for his win on American soil. He previously claimed victory during a stage in the 2007 Tour of California.

"There were some hard stretches," he said. "There was a bit of a headwind, crosswind. It was hard and sometimes pretty lonely. My director kept giving me updates about the time gap."

Voigt may be the most popular rider — and most recognized — in this year's Pro Challenge. He turns 41 in several weeks and said Thursday he had resigned with his Radioshack Team for one more year.

"I'm in the later stages of my career," he said. "I still have it, I'm still there. That I can still be a vital part of the team gives me the confidence to say, 'Yes, I still want to do one more year.'"

Van Garderen meanwhile sits again in yellow, with his attention turned mostly toward the individual time trial in Denver on Sunday. He said that he expects Levi Leipheimer, last year's champion, to make an all-out effort to win the Golden-to-Boulder stage that includes a mountain top finish on Flagstaff Mountain. So far, Leipheimer — who comes to the race with a less experienced and strong team — has laid low.

"I'm looking more to the time trial," van Garderen said. "Boulder's my hometown, so it'd be nice to maybe get a victory there. That's more a pure climber's sort of climb (up Flagstaff). If I can stay even on time, I'm pretty confident I'm the better time trailer."

Despite the rain, Jens Voigt keeps the pace as he races along Highway 24 near Leadville during Stage 4 of the USA Pro Challenge on Thursday. (Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post)

Friday's 117.9-mile stage from Breckenridge to Colorado Springs — the start city for last year's race — begins at 10:50 a.m. The course, race officials say, is best suited for sprinters, despite a 10-mile climb on Hoosier Pass that tops out at 11,500 feet. Riders then descend into Fairplay and Woodland Park before, again like last year, weaving through the Garden of the Gods. The course finishes with circuits in Colorado Springs.

Our earlier live updates are below:

3:06 p.m. | Climbing Battle Mountain

Jens Voigt has summited Battle Mountain and wins the points in the King of the Mountains competition, and he holds nearly 6 minutes on the peloton. He's got 15 miles until the finish into Beaver Creek, and unless some riders from the peloton mount a furious descent, it's unlikely they'll catch him.

2:44 p.m. |Descending toward Battle Mountain

Jens Voigt, the leader of Stage 4, is descending rapidly toward Battle Mountain, the second-to-last climb before the final assault up to Beaver Creek. Voigt's descent has put more distance between himself and the peloton — with about a 4-minute gap.

Riders have now left the rain and have returned to drier roads, a welcome change as they descend toward Battle Mountain. Riders are averageing about 24 miles per hour.

2:27 p.m. | Wet roads and rainy weather

Riders are racing through wet roads and rainy weather, with some riders meeting up with their team cars to get jackets.

Voigt remains just under three minutes in front of the peloton — which caught the other main chase group — with about 30 miles remaining, so all the riders except Voigt remain together. He's11:50 back in the general classification, so he is not a yellow jersey threat.

German keeps lead

The 40-year-old Jens Voigt continued to lead Stage 4 as he hit the Leadville city limits. The German rider for Team Radioshack had a 2½-minute lead on the large chase group, and more than 4½-minutes on the peloton.

Trouble with video

Just before the live coverage hit the NBC Sports Network at 2 p.m., trouble with live video seemed to be cleared up. Hardly any of the first 2½ hours of the race was available on the online feed for the race tracker. Heavy clouds and some rain covered most of the stage.

In order to deliver live coverage, motorcycles with antennas beam their signal up to an airplane flying over the race, which then sendsthe signal down to Beaver Creek, where NBC Sports is waiting. According to the broadcast on the TourTracker, because of the mountains and ridgelines, delivering pictures was particularly difficult on Thursday.

Leader heads to Leadville

Jens Voigt continues to lead Stage 4 as he made the turn off Highway 82 from Independence Pass and north on Highway 24 going into Leadville.

Nearly 43 miles into the stage, the German rider had a 2½-minute lead on the 15-man chase group.

He has more than a 6½-minute lead on the peloton.

Up and over

The chase groups and peloton have summited and are on the decent of Independence Pass. Road conditions on the pass are wet, and the stage is expected to see rain on and off through the day.

The first chase group was about 2½ minutes behind leader Jens Voigt.

The next points available are a sprint in Leadville.

Voigt hits top first

Jens Voigt hit the top of Independence Pass first, completing the 19-plus mile climb in 1 hour, 9 minutes. The Team Radioshack rider from German bolted ahead of the initial breakaway group and stayed ahead to claim the most King of the Mountain points.

When Voigt hit the top of the 4,200-foot climb from the start line, he had a 2:10 gap on the first chase group and nearly a 6-minute lead on the peloton.

Radioshack rider out front

German rider Jens Voigt of Team Radioshack broke away from the early lead group nearly 10 miles up Independence Pass as it broke into two chase groups ahead of the peloton.

Five miles from the top of the pass, Voigt had a 1:20 gap on the first chase group and 1:30 on the second chase group; he was 4:50 ahead of the peloton.

Back up Independence Pass

Carter Jones of Team BPC led the early charge up Independence Pass to start the stage. With nearly a dozen riders in a breakaway, they are going for King of the Mountain points. Those standings are led by Tom Danielson, who had a big climbing day in Stage 3.

The breakaway group staked an early 1:15 gap in the first 8 miles on the first chase group and a 3:20 lead on the peloton.

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